'Maybe Vettel is planning to change teams'

Sebastian Vettel’s decision to question Red Bull’s call to let Daniel Ricciardo through in the last two races has prompted speculation that perhaps the quadruple world champion is looking to switch teams.

In Bahrain earlier this month, Ricciardo was running on the quicker option tyres while Vettel was racing on the primes when the pair caught up on the track, which led to Red Bull instructing the German to let the Australian through.

The scenario repeated in China, but this time both were on the same compounds, prompting Vettel to question the team order. He consequently held up his teammate for a few laps before letting him through when explained that Ricciardo was on a different strategy.

With these recent incidents, coupled with the infamous Multi-21 row with Mark Webber at the Malaysian GP last year, it has left former world champion Mika Hakkinen questioning Vettel’s motives.

"Behaving like that will, sooner or later, hurt him. Maybe he (Vettel) is planning to change teams, but right now he's not behaving in the right way," Hakkinen told Hermes. [Quote credit: GMM]

The Finn pointed out that Ricciardo beating Vettel was an "unpleasant surprise" for the German but added that was it no reason to repeatedly defy the team.

Vettel has been frequently linked with a Ferrari seat and it’s rumoured that a pre-contract has been signed but the four-time world champion has denied the reports time and again. A similar deal has been understood to be in place with Mercedes as well,